The size of the pion from full lattice QCD with physical u, d, s and c quarks

We present the first calculation of the electromagnetic form factor of the π meson at physical light quark masses. We use configurations generated by the MILC collaboration including the effect of u, d, s and c sea quarks with the Highly Improved Staggered Quark formalism. We work at three values of the lattice spacing on large volumes and with u/d quark masses going down to the physical value. We study scalar and vector form factors for a range in space-like q2 from 0.0 to -0.13 GeV2 and from their shape we extract mean square radii. Our vector form factor agrees well with experiment and we find hr2iV = 0:403(18)(6) fm2. For the scalar form factor we include quark-line disconnected contributions which have a significant impact on the radius. We give the first results for SU(3) flavour-singlet and octet scalar mean square radii, obtaining: hr2isinglet S = 0:506(38)(53)fm2 and hr2ioctet S = 0:431(38)(46)fm2. We discuss the comparison with expectations from chiral perturbation theory

Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless-like percolation transitions in the two-dimensional XY model

We study a percolation problem on a substrate formed by two-dimensional XY spin configurations, using Monte Carlo methods. For a given spin configuration we construct percolation clusters by randomly choosing a direction $x$ in the spin vector space, and then placing a percolation bond between nearest-neighbor sites $i$ and $j$ with probability $p_{ij} = \max (0,1-e^{-2K s^x_i s^x_j})$, where $K > 0$ governs the percolation process. A line of percolation thresholds $K_{\rm c} (J)$ is found in the low-temperature range $J \geq J_{\rm c}$, where $J > 0$ is the XY coupling strength. Analysis of the correlation function $g_p (r)$, defined as the probability that two sites separated by a distance $r$ belong to the same percolation cluster, yields algebraic decay for $K \geq K_{\rm c}(J)$, and the associated critical exponent depends on $J$ and $K$. Along the threshold line $K_{\rm c}(J)$, the scaling dimension for $g_p$ is, within numerical uncertainties, equal to $1/8$. On this basis, we conjecture that the percolation transition along the $K_{\rm c} (J)$ line is of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless type.Comment: 23 pages, 14 figure

Integrability of the symmetry reduced bosonic dynamics and soliton generating transformations in the low energy heterotic string effective theory

Integrable structure of the symmetry reduced dynamics of massless bosonic sector of the heterotic string effective action is presented. For string background equations that govern in the space-time of $D$ dimensions ($D\ge 4$) the dynamics of interacting gravitational, dilaton, antisymmetric tensor and any number $n\ge 0$ of Abelian vector gauge fields, all depending only on two coordinates, we construct an \emph{equivalent} $(2 d+n)\times(2 d+n)$ matrix spectral problem ($d=D-2$). This spectral problem provides the base for the development of various solution constructing procedures (dressing transformations, integral equation methods). For the case of the absence of Abelian gauge fields, we present the soliton generating transformations of any background with interacting gravitational, dilaton and the second rank antisymmetric tensor fields. This new soliton generating procedure is available for constructing of various types of field configurations including stationary axisymmetric fields, interacting plane, cylindrical or some other types of waves and cosmological solutions.Comment: 4 pages; added new section on Belinski-Zakharov solitons and new expressions for calculation of the conformal factor; corrected typo

Note on Redshift Distortion in Fourier Space

We explore features of redshift distortion in Fourier analysis of N-body simulations. The phases of the Fourier modes of the dark matter density fluctuation are generally shifted by the peculiar motion along the line of sight, the induced phase shift is stochastic and has probability distribution function (PDF) symmetric to the peak at zero shift while the exact shape depends on the wave vector, except on very large scales where phases are invariant by linear perturbation theory. Analysis of the phase shifts motivates our phenomenological models for the bispectrum in redshift space. Comparison with simulations shows that our toy models are very successful in modeling bispectrum of equilateral and isosceles triangles at large scales. In the second part we compare the monopole of the power spectrum and bispectrum in the radial and plane-parallel distortion to test the plane-parallel approximation. We confirm the results of Scoccimarro (2000) that difference of power spectrum is at the level of 10%, in the reduced bispectrum such difference is as small as a few percents. However, on the plane perpendicular to the line of sight of k_z=0, the difference in power spectrum between the radial and plane-parallel approximation can be more than 10%, and even worse on very small scales. Such difference is prominent for bispectrum, especially for those configurations of tilted triangles. The non-Gaussian signals under radial distortion on small scales are systematically biased downside than that in plane-parallel approximation, while amplitudes of differences depend on the opening angle of the sample to the observer. The observation gives warning to the practice of using the power spectrum and bispectrum measured on the k_z=0 plane as estimation of the real space statistics.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in ChJA

Monodromy transform and the integral equation method for solving the string gravity and supergravity equations in four and higher dimensions

The monodromy transform and corresponding integral equation method described here give rise to a general systematic approach for solving integrable reductions of field equations for gravity coupled bosonic dynamics in string gravity and supergravity in four and higher dimensions. For different types of fields in space-times of $D\ge 4$ dimensions with $d=D-2$ commuting isometries -- stationary fields with spatial symmetries, interacting waves or partially inhomogeneous cosmological models, the string gravity equations govern the dynamics of interacting gravitational, dilaton, antisymmetric tensor and any number $n\ge 0$ of Abelian vector gauge fields (all depending only on two coordinates). The equivalent spectral problem constructed earlier allows to parameterize the infinite-dimensional space of local solutions of these equations by two pairs of \cal{arbitrary} coordinate-independent holomorphic $d\times d$- and $d\times n$- matrix functions ${\mathbf{u}_\pm(w), \mathbf{v}_\pm(w)}$ of a spectral parameter $w$ which constitute a complete set of monodromy data for normalized fundamental solution of this spectral problem. The "direct" and "inverse" problems of such monodromy transform --- calculating the monodromy data for any local solution and constructing the field configurations for any chosen monodromy data always admit unique solutions. We construct the linear singular integral equations which solve the inverse problem. For any \emph{rational} and \emph{analytically matched} (i.e. $\mathbf{u}_+(w)\equiv\mathbf{u}_-(w)$ and $\mathbf{v}_+(w)\equiv\mathbf{v}_-(w)$) monodromy data the solution for string gravity equations can be found explicitly. Simple reductions of the space of monodromy data leads to the similar constructions for solving of other integrable symmetry reduced gravity models, e.g. 5D minimal supergravity or vacuum gravity in $D\ge 4$ dimensions.Comment: RevTex 7 pages, 1 figur

Motivic invariants of Artin stacks and 'stack functions'

An invariant I of quasiprojective K-varieties X with values in a commutative ring R is "motivic" if I(X)= I(Y)+I(X\Y) for Y closed in X, and I(X x Y)=I(X)I(Y). Examples include Euler characteristics chi and virtual Poincare and Hodge polynomials. We first define a unique extension I' of I to finite type Artin K-stacks F, which is motivic and satisfies I'([X/G])=I(X)/I(G) when X is a K-variety, G a "special" K-group acting on X, and [X/G] is the quotient stack. This only works if I(G) is invertible in R for all special K-groups G, which excludes I=chi as chi(K*)=0. But we can extend the construction to get round this. Then we develop the theory of "stack functions" on Artin stacks. These are a universal generalization of constructible functions on Artin stacks, as studied in the author's paper math.AG/0403305. There are several versions of the construction: the basic one SF(F), and variants SF(F,I,R),... "twisted" by motivic invariants. We associate a Q-vector space SF(F) or an R-module SF(F,I,R) to each Artin stack F, with functorial operations of multiplication, pullbacks phi^* and pushforwards phi_* under 1-morphisms phi : F --> G, and so on. They will be important tools in the author's series on "Configurations in abelian categories", math.AG/0312190, math.AG/0503029, math.AG/0410267 and math.AG/0410268.Comment: 48 pages. (v4) Final version, to appear in Quarterly Journal of Mathematic

Magneto-optical Kerr effect in Weyl semimetals with broken inversion and time-reversal symmetries

The topological nature of the band structure of a Weyl semimetal leads to a number of unique transport and optical properties. For example, the description of the propagation of an electromagnetic wave in a Weyl semimetal with broken time-reversal and inversion symmetry, for example, requires a modification of the Maxwell equations by the axion field $\theta \left( \mathbf{r},t\right) =2\mathbf{b}\cdot \mathbf{r}-2b_{0}t,$ where $2$ is the separation in wave vector space between two Weyl nodes of opposite chiralities and $2\hslash b_{0}$ is their separation in energy. In this paper, we study theoretically how the axion terms $b_{0}$ and $\bf{b}$ modify the frequency behavior of the Kerr rotation and ellipticity angles $\theta_{K}\left( \omega \right)$ and $\psi_{K}\left( \omega \right)$ in a Weyl semimetal. Both the Faraday and Voigt configurations are considered since they provide different information on the electronic transitions and plasmon excitation. We derive the Kerr angles firstly without an external magnetic field where the rotation of the polarization is only due to the axion terms and secondly in a strong magnetic field where these terms compete with the gyration effect of the magnetic field. In this latter case, we concentrate on the ultra-quantum limit where the Fermi level lies in the chiral Landau level and the Kerr and ellipticity angles have more complex frequency and magnetic field behaviors.Comment: 21 pages with 14 PDF figure